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It appears the song, Shuffering & Shimiling by Fela Kuti, was first released in 1978, 36 years ago!! And as I listened to the lyrics a few days back, I thought to myself “Wow, not much has changed”. See lyrics below…from 36 years ago!!! I’ve highlighted the sections I find to be so true in Nigeria today…

You Africans, please listen to me as Africans

And you non-Africans, listen to me with open mind

Suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer

Suffer for world

Na your fault be that

Me I say: na your fault be that

I want you all to please take your minds

Out of this musical contraption

And put your minds into any goddamn church

Any goddamn mosque

Any goddamn Celestical

Including Seraphoom and Cheruboom

Now, we are all there now

Our minds are in those places

Here we go

[Chorus]Amen!

Suffer, suffer for world

Enjoy for Heaven

Christians go dey yab“In Spiritum Heavinus”

Muslims go dey call“Allahu Akbar”

Open you eye everywhere

Archbishop na miliki

Pope na enjoyment

Imam na gbaladun

[Chorus]Archbishop dey enjoy

Pope self dey enjoy

Imam self dey enjoy

My brother wetin you say? My brother wetin you say?

My sister wetin you go hear? My sister wetin you go hear?

Archbishop dey for London

Pope dey for Rome

Imam dey for Mecca

Archbishop dey for London

Pope dey for Rome

Imam dey for Mecca

[Chorus]Amen!

My people them go dey follow Bishop

Them go follow Pope

Them go follow Imam

Them go go for London

Them go go for Rome

Them go go for Mecca

Them go carry all the money

Them go juba BishopJuba PopeJuba Imam

Then them go start to yab themselves:[Fela starts chanting in mock-Latin/Arabic]

Suffering & Smiling: Every day na the same thing yesterday and today..but not forever. I’m just so saddened with the situation in Nigeria, but not sure what we can and should do at this stage. What needs to be done? And realistically speaking, what can or can’t we do to get things moving in the right direction? Welcome your thoughts on this topic…

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For the life of me, I can’t tell you. The Nigerian psyche is a special one. It has been conditioned by several factors such as colonial humiliation and a resultant inferiority complex, 3 decades of autocratic military rule, lack of exposure, outdated social norms and belief systems, lack of quality infrastructure and electricity, large population competing with each other for few resources and a general race to the bottom in terms of what is allowed to become “acceptable” in the face of adversity. In short, Nigerians have been specially trained to accept all manner of brutal treatment and suffering without even entertaining the thought of rebellion. Anyone who bucks the trend is very quickly singled out by Nigerian society as an outcast. The emergence of social media has actually WORSENED this trend as the upcoming generation now finds it emotionally cathartic and convenient to tweet and retweet their social consciousness instead of getting out on the streets of Maitama and Asokoro to demand for the things they want. It is my hope that eventually, at some point, this generation will put their Blackberries and Tecnos in the pockets and go out to meet those holding them hostage and demand accountability. I only hope that point doesn’t come too late (I.e when the country is on the verge of a breakup or a civil war). This generation is the country’s last hope. If we don’t get it together, that’s it for Nigeria, and by extension that’s it for Africa and for Black people in general. I remain cautiously optimistic.

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